Dr. Ben Carson: The Man Obama Pretended To Be

Conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh has asserted in recent days that Democrats are “scared to death” of Dr. Benjamin Carson, the renowned neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins University who took Obama to task in the now-infamous National Prayer Breakfast last month.  Limbaugh went even further in his radio address Wednesday, astutely observing, “Right now, Ben Carson is probably, in a lot of ways, everything Obama pretended to be, and everything that people thought Obama was.”

It’s hard to forget when Obama boldly proclaimed, “Generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless.  This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

I laughed – a lot.

But many people cheered – a lot.  They wholeheartedly believed back in the 2008 campaign that Obama had the messianic influence to single-handedly heal America…and the whole planet, too.  They put blind faith in a man they knew nothing about (and wanted to know nothing about) for no legitimate reason other than the fact that they wanted to believe him, during a time when they desperately needed something to believe in.  Despite all the red flags and warning signs along the way, otherwise-intelligent people cast ballots for a man who is doing everything but trying to heal America and the planet.

For fear of beating a dead horse, now think about Dr. Carson.  Conservatives, Independents, and even Democrats flocked to the message he proclaimed at the National Prayer Breakfast.  He spoke from his heart in a common-sense way about the things many Americans have been wringing their hands over for years.  Most importantly, he did it in a dignified fashion that didn’t include any of the finger pointing or name-calling that has become all-too-common in modern politics, particularly under the Obama administration.  Dr. Carson articulated the truth of conservatism in a manner that made it hard for Americans not to believe in him and his message.

The parallels are striking. People genuinely respect Dr. Carson for the same qualities many people falsely attributed to Obama.  Think about it:

1. You don’t think he has an agenda.  Dr. Carson is able to tell you what he thinks, and even tells you the way he thinks things should be, but nobody thinks there is any grand design behind his thoughts.  There’s no perception that he wants to force people to do something – and that’s what many people think of as an agenda.  Along the same thread, many Obama supporters don’t attribute any deceptive, deceitful agenda to Obama, either.  To the extent that he does have an agenda, it’s fighting these mysterious, powerful forces that are destroying everything, even though there hasn’t been a president in a hundred years who’s had this kind of naked desire to subjugate people and to control them.
2.  He appears to be a post-racial figure.  The rhetoric of Dr. Carson appeals to the masses.  Americans of all stripes cheered at his jibes against political correctness because he conveyed his belief in their inherent dignity.  He conveyed the idea of judging people based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin – and meant it.  His message is one of optimism and faith, comparable to Obama’s “hope and change” propaganda in 2008 when Obama painted himself as the sole answer to improving race relations in America.              
3. He appears to transcend partisanship.  Dr. Carson is on record stating that he’s an Independent.  He has shed light on unjust actions that have been taken by both parties in past years, channeling the same frustration of those in mainstream America.  When campaigning, Obama did the same thing, promising to end divisions that had plagued Washington for too long and work with those on both sides of the aisle…only to become, arguably, the most partisan president in history.     
4. He is a uniter and a healer.  When Obama was campaigning, the sound bites were endless that proclaimed he was going to unite the red and blue states – and the red and blue politicians – and then, of course, heal all ills the world over.  Dr. Carson doesn’t need to go to these lengths because he already is a healer – he saves the lives of children!  And he has the manner of a uniter: calm, cool, and collected.

I can’t help but think Limbaugh is right.  The man Obama pretended to be is Dr. Ben Carson.  Carson for President 2016?

Written by Elizabeth Hermesch